Press Releases
China’s Luckin Coffee expands menu to step up challenge to rival Starbucks
Danielle Long August 2018 Luckin Coffee, the Chinese coffee company aiming to challenge Starbucks dominance in China, has announced plans to expand to light meals and snacks. The announcement comes days after Starbucks unveiled a major partnership with Alibaba, which will see the global coffee giant launch delivery services through Alibaba’s delivery service Ele.me. Luckin will add sandwiches, muffins, and salads to its menus and will offer a 50% discount on delivery and pick-up food items, as the company steps up its competition with Starbucks. Luckin Coffee, which officially launched in Beijing in January, has grown rapidly thanks to its heavily digital model, as well as focus on delivery and discounts. Customers can order via an app, watch their coffee being made via livestreaming video and have it delivered within 20 minutes. The company’s stores are a mix of large “relax” stores, coffee pick-up stores with minimal seating and delivery…
Read MoreTHE WHYS & WHY-NOTS OF MADE-TO-ORDER FOODSERVICE
Angela Hanson 10/08/2018 CSNews LAS VEGAS — Developing a made-to-order foodservice program can enable convenience stores to refine their brand identity, increase sales and profit margins, and offer consumers something the competition can’t, but does that make every other prepared food program second best? Not so, according to the presenters at the 2018 NACS Show education session, “Is Made to Order Really For Me?” This session featured Jerry Weiner, president of Jerry Weiner Consulting; Courtney Williams, vice president of food and beverage at Family Express Corp.; and Ieva Grimm, president of SYNERGE, who also served as moderator. While made-to-order foodservice offers many benefits, the perception that it’s what all c-stores should be doing is inaccurate, according to Grimm. One foodservice format does not work for everyone, and retailers must decide for themselves whether made-to-order fits based on the location, size and needs of their store(s). “It is not the only…
Read MoreTHE EVOLUTION OF VEHICLES WILL CHANGE THE C-STORE INDUSTRY
Angela Hanson 10/15/2018 CSNews NATIONAL REPORT — Despite the headlines they’ve generated, alternative vehicles are not yet filling up the roads. Research presented at the Fuels Institute’s FUELS2018 event in May showed that electric vehicles (EVs) are a small portion of the total population on the road, with growth hampered by higher prices and limited availability. But slow growth isn’t no growth. And today’s technology is evolving faster than expected. As electric cars and connected cars begin to enter the mainstream, and consumers shift their approach to vehicle transportation, convenience store and fuel retailers will need to adapt or get left behind. “In order to survive, the modern c-store MUST evolve from the low-cost leader category of fuel to address what will get customers to stop in the future,” said Michael Johnson, vice president of North America for TLM Technologies Inc., which works with convenience and fuel retailers to develop…
Read MoreColes' same-store food sales rise 5.1pc, fuelled by Little Shop, plastic bags
Sue Mitchell October 15, 2018 AFR Coles is shifting its focus from price to convenience as food prices start rising for the first time in 10 years and higher costs threaten to dent margins in the retailer’s first year as a standalone listed company. New managing director Steven Cain says that while Coles will stay competitive on price his priorities include making life easier for customers by improving the retailer’s online business, which is approaching $1 billion in sales, and launching innovative new convenience store formats. “We’re trying not to be too focused on beating the competitor, it’s more about doing a better job for customers and making life easier,” Mr Cain said on Monday after unveiling Coles’ strongest supermarket sales growth in almost three years. “If we can deliver that better and faster then we should be able to grow faster going forward but we’re certainly not obsessed by…
Read Morenews.com.au and 7-Eleven have joined forces to celebrate everyone’s favourite morning pick up; coffee!
Erin Bromhead news.com.au Stop over-complicating your life, starting with your morning coffee order. Last year, I walked into a 7-Eleven to pay for the $40 of petrol I had just fed my car. While I was there, I decided to try a cup of their freshly ground coffee. When George the cashier announced my total would be $41, I pointed to my flat white, reminding him of the other item I was purchasing that he’d obviously forgotten to ring up. I think we all know where this story is going. Let’s just say that George’s memory was impeccable, and I had found my new local coffee spot. While we’re strolling down memory lane, let me share another profound lesson from my younger years. When I was nine years old, I walked into the small, family-run supermarket across the road from my primary school and threw down a whopping $5.50 for…
Read MoreBig tobacco's smoke and mirrors act
Hauke Goos and Ann-Kathrin Nezik Oct 12 2018 Along the Avenue de Rhodanie in Lausanne, Switzerland, the world’s largest cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris, is taking an unconventional step that might be described, by some, as an attempt by a reformed tobacco company to save the world’s smokers. The cigarette maker, the story goes, doesn’t want to make cigarettes anymore. Its hero is Andre Calantzopoulos, the Greek who, since 2013, has been the chief executive of Philip Morris International. Calantzopoulos says he quit smoking because he discovered something better and healthier, namely “heating”. Heating products don’t burn tobacco but release nicotine by raising the temperature to about 300 degrees. According to the cigarette companies, this prevents the combustion of carcinogens found in normal cigarette smoke. Calantzopoulos conveniently made the jump from conventional cigarettes to the product, which he is helping bring to market and that Philip Morris has marketed under the brand…
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